[Kannon Reigenki Saigoku Pilgrimage] No. 13 Goshu Ishiyama-dera Temple / High Priest Roben
“Kannon Reigenki Saigoku Pilgrimage No. 13 Goshu Ishiyama-dera Temple High Priest Roben”
|Kannon Reigenki (Miraculous Stories of Kannon) |Saigoku (Western Provinces) |Junrei (Pilgrimage) No. 13 |Goshu (Omi Province) |Ishiyama-dera Temple
Though the heart that prays for the world to come may be light,
The Buddha's vow is heavy at |Ishiyama.
|High Priest |Roben
By the |Imperial |decree of |Emperor |Shomu, |Roben prayed to |Zao |Gongen to |excavate |gold from |Mount |Yoshino, but |Zao appeared in a |divine |dream and said:
“The |gold of |this |mountain is |intended for the |advent of |Maitreya, so |you are not |permitted to |take it at |will. There is |another |place I will |teach you. In |Goshu (Omi Province), |Seta |District, there is a |mountain. This is a |sacred |site of |Nyoirin Kannon, so you should go there and |offer |prayers.”
* “High Priest Roben” was a monk of the Kegon sect in the Nara period. He was the first head priest (betto) of Todai-ji Temple.
* “Divine dream” refers to a spiritual dream.
* “Sacred site” refers to a holy place.
|Roben, as |instructed, |went to |Seta, and |there, an |old man was |fishing on a rock. When he |asked, “Who are you?”, the man replied, “I am the |master of this |mountain, the |god of |Hira. This is indeed a |land of |Kannon,” and then |vanished.
|Roben, |rejoicing, |built a |hermitage in the |vicinity and |crafted a |venerable |statue of |Nyoirin. Before |long, |gold was |offered from |Oshu (Mutsu Province); |this was a |miraculous |divine |sign. At this |time, |Otomo no |Yakamochi |composed a |poem in |celebration:
〽 May the Emperor's reign prosper, for in the eastern land of
|Mutsu |mountains, |gold |flowers bloom.
* “Gold was offered from Oshu” refers to the fact that gold for gilding the Great Buddha of Todai-ji was produced in Mutsu Province and presented to Emperor Shomu by the Governor of Mutsu.
* “Divine sign” refers to a miracle.
* “Suberagi” refers to the Emperor.
* Reference: “Saigoku, Chichibu, and Bando 100 Kannon Pilgrimage Record”, “Illustrated Record of Miraculous Stories of the 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Sites in the Western Provinces”, “Illustrated Record of Miraculous Stories of the 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Sites in the Western Provinces”, “Illustrated Record of Miraculous Stories of the 33 Kannon Pilgrimage Sites in the Western Provinces” (National Diet Library Digital Collections)
Author's Note: ● indicates characters that could not be deciphered.
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